Arsene Wenger last night re-opened his war of words with Sir Alex Ferguson as he launched a passionate defence of Arsenal's foreign policy.

Wenger was clearly upset by the Manchester United manager's remarks that the proposals of FIFA president Sepp Blatter to limit the number of foreigners would be a "problem for Arsenal and that's why they'll protest loudest". But Wenger reminded Ferguson United spent £35million on Portuguese winger Nani and Brazilian midfielder Anderson last summer and reckons the players may be offended by their manager's remarks.

The only English player in the Gunners' starting line-up in Prague tonight will be Theo Walcott, but Wenger insists introducing a quota of home players would lower Premier League standards.

The Arsenal boss said: "It's not very nice for his own foreign players.

"It's down to quality but if you look at Manchester United they have invested a lot of money in foreign players.

"As for the rest, I am ready to take the blame for everything else that is wrong with English football!

"But we don't want to stop quality and hide behind artificial rules. If you take the level of quality down it doesn't necessarily make the bad students better. It makes them worse.

"To compete with the best is a chance to improve. If you organise a golf tournament you want Tiger Woods there.

If you go to Wimbledon you want to see Roger Federer.

"Fans want to see worldclass players. You can't give them a level down. The real question is how can England produce world-class players?" The uneasy truce between Wenger and Ferguson clearly appears to be over, especially after the United boss also whinged about referee Howard Webb and Gunners fans after Saturday's 2-2 draw.

Wenger will rest Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb tonight with qualification all but guaranteed.